Chapter 41: The Helpless Eagle in the Sky

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  Two German fighters, at this time not attacking the last B-24 entering formation, instead each again quickly climbed to an altitude as if seeking a blind spot in the bomber stream's firepower.

  Suddenly, one of the German ME262A-1 fighters banked and dived towards the seam between this group of bombers and another, while another German fighter was at the rear of this bomber formation. Taking advantage of the Allied bombers' slightly diverted attention, it immediately fired a burst from its 30mm cannon at the bomber formation without waiting to see if it hit any aircraft, then quickly raised its nose and swept over the top of the bomber group, leaving behind a trail of bullets in its wake.

  "Damn it! He didn't even hit him!" Jones cursed as he watched through the telescope.

  "Look quickly!"

  The German fighter, which had made a slashing attack, did not succeed in breaking up the bomber formation. It quickly executed a dazzling barrel roll and its two 30mm cannons pointed at the belly of one of the bombers. The ventral gun turret of the bomber formation opened fire wildly on the German fighter, but it narrowly escaped thanks to its good maneuverability. However, the German fighter did not remain idle, and dozens of rounds from its 30mm cannons immediately left a large hole in the bomber's body. It then quickly turned around and came back to the rear of the bomber formation again.

  Another German fighter swooped down from above the bomber formation and immediately turned around, climbing back up to the rear of the formation to take up a suitable attacking position. This round of extremely fast attacks caused the Allied bombers under attack by the fighters to become visibly flustered, increasing their speed in an attempt to get into the protection of the formation. The German pilots clearly had no intention of allowing these bombers to reorganize, and immediately launched another simultaneous attack on a B-24 bomber from both left and right wings.

  This time, a burst of machine gun fire from a German fighter plane had luckily pierced the bomber's cabin wall, apparently killing or disabling the instrument panel or the pilot, and the stricken bomber nosed down and plummeted straight down from the sky like a great iron weight.

  After the German fighter achieved this victory, it did not immediately leave, but quickly pounced on other bombers in the formation, following the firepower blind spot left by the downed bomber. Another string of attacks followed, and the destroyed bombers in the formation had no power to resist, and were immediately shot down by two German fighters. The remaining bomber panicked and desperately escaped, trying to re-enter the protection of the machine group, but unfortunately, it was tightly held by the German fighter who circled back, and after several consecutive attacks, the engine was hit, and the propeller on the wing of the bomber stopped rotating immediately, pulling a long black smoke towards the ground. A loud explosion sounded in the distance, followed by a huge fireball and thick smoke rising into the air!

  "My God! In just a moment, four planes have been shot down!" Linberna was also shocked by this aerial battle that decided life and death in seconds.

  "What the devil's happened to our fighter planes?" Jones asked.

  "They're coming!" I pointed to the north, where several white lights were flashing and rapidly moving towards us. This was definitely a US military escort fighter rushing over.

  The German fighters seemed to have also discovered that the Allied fighters were closing in, and immediately abandoned their second attack on the bombers, instead increasing their climb angle again and diving into the clouds.

  As for the air battle, I don't fully understand it, but I can guess what the Germans want to do. In my heart, I couldn't help but look forward to the arrival of the escort fighters, which could discover the German planes. It's clear that my worries were unnecessary. The eight Allied fighters that arrived had already discovered the German planes and quickly surrounded them in groups of three. The remaining two fighters ran to the side of the bombers, probably to cut off the German fighters from penetrating the bomber formation. Although it was a foolish act to penetrate the bomber formation, they still had to guard against the Germans crashing into a clumsy B-24 bomber in their final moments, which would be a loss that outweighed any gain.

  The escort fighters of the US military rushing to the scene were the world-renowned Mustang fighters. Although the speed of this fighter was not comparable to that of the ME262A-1, it did not prevent it from having excellent aerial combat performance. At this moment, three US Mustang fighters in a formation swooped down towards their respective opponents with a roar.

  The German pilots seemed to know they couldn't cope with so many enemies, relying on their speed advantage, immediately turned around and flew rapidly towards the flank of the US fighter formation. The US Mustang fighter formation also adjusted its direction based on the middle lead plane and countered the attack. The German pilots couldn't find a weakness in the US fighter formation, and again made a sharp climb, while two wingmen of the US Mustang fighters, one on each side, quickly flanked from both sides, except for the long machine below.

  The German pilot, seeing this situation, was a bit anxious and shook the wing, immediately making a large angle towards the ground, as if to break away from the encirclement of the US Mustang fighter group. Two US Mustang fighters, led by the lead aircraft, tried to tightly bite onto this ME262A-1 jet fighter, but due to their slower speed compared to the German ME262A-1, they were pulled away by the German warplane. The US fighter planes did not give up and closely followed behind the German warplane, with one US fighter plane even firing a string of bullets at the rear of the German fighter, but this attack seemed more like an act of frustration.

  The German fighter planes flew at an ultra-low altitude from several thousand meters high, whizzing past the buildings in the city, with the lowest height being no higher than the bell tower of Strasbourg Cathedral.

  The P-51 Mustangs were in hot pursuit, not to be outdone, and were right on the tail of the German fighter. I think the German pilot was hoping that the anti-aircraft defenses at Cherbourg would help him shake off the large number of American fighters behind him. I couldn't help but feel a little worried for the P-51s in hot pursuit.

  The remaining anti-aircraft troops in Saarburg, of course, would not give up the opportunity to help their comrades. After their own planes had passed by, they suddenly opened fire on the pursuing Mustang fighters. The sudden attack caught the American Mustang fighter squadron off guard, and one of them was hit by ground anti-aircraft fire, its oil tank exploding as it crashed into an abandoned building with a loud screech. Boom! Another intense explosion shook the air, sending up a massive fireball and black smoke. Although the German ground anti-aircraft troops had shot down an American fighter plane, unfortunately, the American long-range artillery continued to bombard this area, and after two rounds of shelling, nothing could be seen in this area except for thick black smoke and dust.

  The German fighter, with the help of ground troops, successfully shot down a US Mustang fighter and pulled up sharply to fly into the sky. At this time, another group of fighters had already been waiting in the sky and rushed towards him head-on. The German pilot also showed no weakness and fired a string of machine guns. The US Mustang fighter dodged to the left and right and immediately flew away.

  The German fighter seemed to have been hit by the ambush of the two Mustang fighters just now, with some smoke coming from the bottom of the wing. The German pilot may not have noticed that the plane was damaged, drew an arc, turned his head and flew quickly to another companion who was being chased by American fighters, attacking the flank of the American fighter formation in an attempt to rescue the helpless companion.

  The US fighter squadron was not afraid of the ME262A-1 German fighter that came to support, and immediately dispatched a fighter to intercept it. The German fighter that came to support had no choice but to engage in a dogfight with the intercepting US fighter, sometimes inserting into the clouds and sometimes diving towards the ground. Because one of the US fighters was shot down by the German anti-aircraft forces earlier, they did not dare to get too close to the sky above the city of Strasbourg. Only in this way could the two German fighters temporarily hold out under the attack of many US fighters.

  In the history of World War II, German aces were not inferior to those of any other nation. The aerial combat records set by Luftwaffe fighter pilots still make all self-proclaimed "aces" from other nations blush with shame. For example, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, a legendary Stuka pilot, sank the Soviet battleship "Marat" in 1941 and later flew a modified Ju-87D-3 Stuka equipped with two 37mm cannons under its wings, earning him even more victories at the Battle of Kursk.

  Captain Rudel was involved in the research work of the German Air Force Experimental Institute on the development of tactics for weapon systems, mainly to improve the Ju87D-3 Stuka, and personally applied the research results to actual combat. The new Ju87D-3 Stuka piloted by Captain Rudel was first used to attack Soviet Red Navy landing ships in the Black Sea, and he alone destroyed 70 Soviet landing ships within 3 weeks. On the vast battlefield of the Soviet-German war, he piloted this improved Stuka to destroy hundreds of Soviet tanks, including 12 T-34 tanks on the first day of the Battle of Kursk.

  By the end of the war, Rudel had become the most successful tank destroyer ace of all time. During his 2,500+ sorties he destroyed: 519 tanks, one battleship, one cruiser, one destroyer, 70 landing craft, four armored trains and nine aircraft. All these achievements were accomplished while flying an aircraft that was considered to be a "simple, rugged" plane before the war. He was shot down or forced to make crash landings 30 times due to anti-aircraft fire, but never by enemy fighters. Rudel was wounded five times and lost one leg, but continued flying missions with a prosthetic limb. The Soviets sent their best fighter pilots to shoot him down, and put a 100,000 ruble bounty on his head, dead or alive!

  Although he was a legendary figure among pilots, in the combat units of the Allied air forces of various countries, he would not be publicized at all, but in Germany, he was widely publicized as a heroic figure, and his existence indeed affected many aviators who vowed to encircle Germany, which is indeed a shameful thing for the Allied and Soviet pilots in World War II history.

  Two German fighter pilots tried to learn from their heroes, but as time went on, the previously damaged ME262A-1 fighter finally started spewing out thick black smoke. The American fighters immediately seized the opportunity and fired a few more shots at the seemingly out-of-control German plane. The German plane could no longer hold on and trailed thick black smoke as it flew away. Just like that, an American pilot did not let up on the already defeated German fighter, chasing after the ME262A-1 with a string of long attacks until the German plane exploded in mid-air before joining the attack on another German fighter.

  Another German fighter, apparently unable to turn the tide of battle, accelerated and fled eastward into the clouds. The Allied fighters did not seem to want to let go of this opportunity to beat a dog in the water, and they chased after them with a roar. All the planes soon disappeared from view, and the entire air battle that took place above Cherbourg lasted less than five minutes.